Rubber band gun



Nov. 2, 1937. L. GAGNON ET AL RUBBER BAND GUN Filed Nov. 17, 1936 INVENTORS laws GAGA 0M a? fl/vm/A/f 6mm 0 000000 0000000000. oooooooooo oonoflowwwnww Patented Nov. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RUBBER BAND GUN Louis Gag'non and Angeline Gagnon, New York, N. Y.

Application November 1'7, 1936, Serial No. 111,205

10 Claims. (01. 124-19) This invention relates to toys. More particuand held between the end I21; and a second rod larly it relates to pistol simulating toys adapted 2| spaced rearwardly of the rod 22. Also the to shoot rubber bands and the like. rubber band I! is stretched and held between One of the objects of our invention is to prothe end |2a and a third rod 22 spaced rearward- 5 vide a toy pistol of the character described hav- 1y of the rod 2|. To retain the rods 20, 2| and ing novel means whereby a plurality of rubber 22 in proper position, the pistol I0 is provided bands may be loaded thereon and shot away sucwith a hollow chamber 3|! forming an upper wall cessively one at a time. 3| and a lower wall 32. The walls 3| and 32 Another object of our invention is to provide are provided with angularly aligned sets of upa toy pistol of the character described which per and lower apertures 35, 36 and 31 designed 0 shall comprise relatively few and simple parts, to have slidably received therein the rods 20, which shall be easy to assemble, rugged in con- 2| and 22. The sets of apertures 35, 36 and 31 struction, safe to use, easy to operate and at the may be non-circular in cross section, for reasame time highly efiicient, and which shall be sons which will soon become apparent. The rods a general improvement inthe art, 20, 2| and 22 are of such length to normally 15 Further objects of our invention will become project a predetermined distance above the up- ;apparent in the following detailed description per Wall 3| and below the lower wall 32. To

th reof, prevent the lower ends of the rods 20, 2| and In the accompanying drawing, 22 from completely withdrawing upwardly from Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a toy'pistheir lower wall apertures, projecting pins 38 20 tol embodying our invention; are provided which are adapted to abut the up- Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken subper wall 3|. To prevent the rods 20, 2| and stantially on the line 2-2; 22 from dropping down too far, pins 39 are pro- Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but having a vided. It is thus seen from the above described portion thereof removed disclosing the interior construction that the rubber bands I5, [6 and 25 mechanism; I! will normally be retained in position as shown Fig. 4 is. an enlarged sectional view taken in Fig. 1 of the drawing. substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and For successively shooting off the rubber bands,

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a portion of we have provided the following novel constructhe Fig. 1 form of device, but illustrating a modition. Each of the rods, such as for example the 30 fied form of construction thereof. rod 20, is preferably constructed of metal and Referring now in detail to the drawing, there comprises two parts 20a. and 20b pivotally joined is shown a toy pistol construction ||l embodying at 200. The part 20a is preferably of square cross our invention, comprisinga stock simulating porsection so that it may be slidably but non-ro- 3 tion H, a barrel simulating portion |2 and a tatably retained in the apertures 35, whereas the bullet loading simulating portion l3. While in part 20b may be of annular cross section to perthe drawing we have illustrated one type of pismit the ready dislodgement of the rubber band tol design, it is understood that our invention l5 therefrom. The relative proportion of the contemplates any other'desired firearm simulatparts 20a and 20b is such that only the part 20b ing shape or form. will be permittedtoi pivot on the axis 200 when 40 By our invention we have provided novel means the rod 20 is moved upwardly so that the pivot whereby we are able to load the above described 35 is above the upper surface of the wall 3|. pistol In with a plurality of rubber bands, such The pivot Zllc is so positioned that its axis of as for example |5, l6 and I1 at one time, and rotation is transversely disposed with respect to which are then adapted to be successively shot the longitudinal axis of the barrel l2 and there- 45 away, one at a time, in a manner which will fore the part 202) will be permitted to rotate soon become apparent as the description proonly in a direction toward and away from the ceeds. barrel end l2a.

The means for loading the pistol III with rub- It is thus seen from the above described conber bands will now be described. One end of struction that when the rubber band I5 is loaded 50 the rubber band I5 is caused to encircle the end in the manner hereinbefore described and as l2a. of the barrel portion l2 and then stretched shown in Fig. 1, and the rod 20 moved upwardto reach and. encircle the portion of rod memly until the pivot 20c reaches a point above the ber 20 which projects above the top of the pistop surface of the wall 3|, the tension of the rub- -tol Ill. Similarly the rubber band I6 is stretched ber band I5 will cause the part 2012 to fold over 55 as shown in Fig. 3, and the rubber band i5 will be released to be shot away. Since this action takes place suddenly, the rubber band will be shot with considerable speed.

To facilitate the raising of the rod 20, I have provided a trigger simulating member 40 which is slidably mounted in a guideway 4|, in any suitable manner. One such method is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing and comprises a pair of opposed notches 42 in the trigger 40 adapted to receive therein flanges 43 of the guideway 4|. The trigger 40 is provided with a finger gripping portion 40a projecting below the guideway 4| and with a cammed upper edge 45, the'upper end thereof being disposed adjacent the lower wall 32, as shown in Fig. 3. To limit the sliding movement of the trigger in the direction of the arrow A, the guideway 4| is provided with an abutment 50. To normally retain the trigger All in engagement with the said abutment a suitable spring 5| is provided, one end of which is attached to the trigger 4B and the other end thereof being attached to the wall of the guideway M,

It is now clearly seen that when the trigger 40 is slidably moved in the direction of the arrow B (Fig. 3) against the action of the spring 5|, the cammed surface 45 will cause the rod 20 to rise until the pivot 20c reaches a point above the top wall 3! and the rubber band I5 will then be shot off. If the trigger 40 is continued to be moved in the direction of the arrow B, the rod 2| will be raised to shoot off the rubber band I6, and then in a similar manner the rubber band I! will be shot off. Thus by our invention we have provided a repeating rubber band shooter. When the trigger 40 is released it will be brought back to its normal position by the spring 5! to strike the abutment 5D, and be held there. Any other desirable resilient member, such as for example, a rubber band, may be employed in place of the spring 5|. The pistol l0 may then be prepared for reloading by flipping the rods 20, 2| and 22 backwardly so that the portions 20b will slidably fall into their apertures 35, 36 and 31 respectively.

The pistol l0 may be constructed in anyknown manner such as by casting the stock II, the barrel l2 and the loading chamber I 3 in one piece, providing for half of the hollow chamber l3 containing half the apertures 35, 36 and 31 in the upper and lower walls 3| and 32, and half the guideway 4|. The rods 20, 2| and 22 and the trigger may then be inserted in proper position, and a cast cover member 60 screwed or riveted in place. The cover 60 is symmetrically designed with respect to the rest of the pistol l0, so that it will contain the corresponding portions of the chamber 30, the apertures 35, 38 and 31, and the guideway, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.-

To insure a better gripping of the rubber bands l5, l6 and I1, and to prevent their entanglement, the edge lZa of the barrel I2 may be provided with suitable notches 6|, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing.

While in the drawing we have shown our invention as applied to the successive shooting of three rubber bands, it is understood however that any number of rods may be employed to shoot any desired number of rubber bands.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have herein described the principle and operation of our invention, together with the apparatus which we nowconsider'to represent the best embodiment thereof, but we desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described our invention, what we claim .and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm the combination of a stock, a barrel, a substantially vertically disposed rod member slidably mounted in said gun, whereby a rubber band may be stretched between said rod and a point on said barrel, and slidable trigger means for quickly releasing said rubber band from said rod-said last named means including means for raising said rod member whereby to cause said rubber band to be released from said rod.

2. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm the combination of a stock, a barrel, a substantially vertically disposed rod 'member slidably mounted in said firearm and having a portion thereof normally projecting a predetermined distance above the top surface of said barrel, whereby an elastic loop may be stretched between said projecting portion and a point on said barrel, and means for quickly releasing said loop from said rod, said last named means including slidable trigger means for elevating said rod member to project still further above said top surface whereby to cause said loop to be suddenly released from said rod.

3. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands and the like, comprising a stock, a barrel, means for holding a rubber band in stretched position, said means comprising a slidably mounted member disposed transversely of said barrel, means comprising a slidably mounted trigger, adapted to slidably move said slidably mounted member'to automatically release the rubber band therefrom.

4. -In atoy rubber band gunsimulating a firearm -of the character described adapted .to shoot rubber bands and the like, the combination of a stock, a barrelymeans'disposed between-said stock and said barrelfor holding a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said means comprising a rod member, and: means for shooting said rubber band, said last named means comprising a slidably mounted trigger provided with means whereby to cause said rod member to be slidably elevated whenever said trigger is slidably moved, to therebycause release of said rubber band from said rod.

5. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands and the like, the combinationofa stock, a barrel, means disposed-between said stock and said barrel for normally holding one end of a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising asubstantially vertically disposed rod member slidably .mounted in said firearm, and means for shooting saidrubber band, saidrl-ast named-means comprising a slidably mounted trigger, provided with a icammed portion adapted to cause slidable movement of said rod member to release said rubber band therefrom wheneversaidtrigger is slidably moved.

.6. In a toy rubber bandgun simulating a.firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands and the like, the combination of a stock, a barrel, means disposed between said stock and said barrel for normally holding one end of a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising a substantially vertically disposed rod member slidably mounted in said firearm, and means for shooting said rubber band, said last named means comprising a slidably mounted trigger, provided with a cammed portion adapted to cause slidable elevational movement of said rod member to release said rubber band therefrom, and resilient means for restoring said sliding trigger to its normally ineffective position.

'7. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands, and the like, the combination of a stock, a barrel, means disposed between said stock and said barrel for normally holding one end of a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising a rod member, said rod member comprising two pivotally interconnected parts, and adapted to be slidably housed in a guideway whereby relative pivotal movement of said parts is normally prevented,

and means for elevating said rod to a point where pivotal movement between the parts is permitted to thereby release said rubber band end therefrom, said last named means comprising a slidably mounted trigger.

8. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands and the like, the combination of a stock, a barrel, means disposed between said stock and said barrel for normally holding one end of a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising a rod member, said rod member comprising two pivotally inter-connected parts, said parts being slidably housed in a guideway whereby relative pivotal movement of said parts, in said guideway is prevented and a slidably mounted trigger provided with a cammed portion adapted to cooperate with the lower end of said rod to slidably move said rod out of said guideway until relative pivotal movement of the said parts is permitted.

9. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to shoot rubber bands and the like, the combination of a stock, a barrel, means disposed between said stock and said barrel for normally holding one end of a rubber band stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising a substantially vertically disposed rod member comprising two pivotally interconnected parts, said parts being slidably and non-rotatably housed in a guideway so that relative pivotal movement of the said parts is normally prevented, and means including a sliding trigger for moving said rod out of said guideway to permit relative pivotal movement of the parts to thereby release said rubber band end from said rod member. 7

10. In a toy rubber band gun simulating a firearm of the character described adapted to successively shoot a. plurality of rubber bands and the like, in combination, a stock, a barrel, means disposed between said barrel and said stock for normally holding ends of a plurality of rubber bands stretched from a point on said barrel, said last named means comprising a plurality of spaced rod members, said rod members being slidably and non-rotatably mounted in said firearm, means for successively shooting said rubber bands comprising a single slidably mounted trigger, said trigger being provided with a cam whereby the sliding movement of said trigger is adapted to successively slidably move said rod members, in said guideways, said rods comprising means for automatically and successively releasing said rubber bands from said rod members after they have been slidably moved a predetermined distance by said cam.

LOUIS GAGNON. ANGELINE GAGNON. 

